Viewing entries tagged with 'leadership'

Most Januaries I do a little bit of rebranding. I reflect on the previous year’s work, on the changes I’ve faced personally and professionally and on the kind of work I want to do over the next year.

It’s not a big, fancy process. Mostly it’s intuitive. Mine is not a big business — hell, it’s hardly even small! It’s me essentially — along with a small team and a few associates — offering my unique life and professional experience to help others in a variety of ways.

This year, I’ve made two changes to my brand. Firstly, I’ve de-emphasised diversity. It’s still in the mix, but it sits equally alongside other elements. Secondly, I’ve changed creativity to complexity. That’s not to say I’m not creative or that creativity is not complex; quite the opposite.

Just a quick reflection on the first days of the year, an affirmation of sorts. I notice I've taken on my reclusive role, usual for this time of year, not having left the house this year yet, other than to sit on the deck to read, drink, socialise, admire the beautiful nature-laden part of Auckland I am blessed to live in, and/or reflect.

It's been a stressless, easy ride into 2015. May it continue.

The only event of note was a slight over-indulgence of leadership juice on 1 January, ending with my falling on the floor. A few years ago I had upper and lower back injuries, leaving me without power in my upper arms/shoulders and no longer able to walk. Unable to lift myself from the floor anymore, particularly after a wine or two, I invested in a Bupa medical alarm half way through last year — it seemed less strenuous than weight training, at which I failed miserably to endure.

As of tomorrow, 7 July, I'll be employed for the first time in twelve years. In early May I applied for the 0.6FTE role of Communications Officer at the NZ AIDS Foundation, was offered, to my surprise, an interview in early June and, to my greater surprise, the job in mid-June.

My surprise was two-fold. Firstly, while I've had heaps of experience in communications I've had no formal training. Secondly, I'm fairly long in the tooth to be taking up an entry-level position. So while I felt confident to fulfil the role, I didn't think I'd fit the role profile.

I obviously did though. And that leads to another aspect of my surprise, which is strongly linked to trust. At the beginning of the year I decided to let myself be guided towards where I was needed. I thought it would come in the form of a new client, but it manifested in a completely unexpected way. Not only a completely different content area, but a different role (employment not consultant) and, actually, a whole different lifestyle (I'll be working at the Foundation's offices).

Labour's "alternative budget" today announced, "High earners will pay a tax rate of 36 percent on income over $150,000. Currently the top tax bracket is 33 percent for people earning over $77,000."

The Prime Minister John Key's surly response: "Envy tax." It's a response that epitomises this Government's entitled, ungenerous and irresponsible approach to the economy.

Key's response is typical of the neo-liberalism of conservative politics. It erodes community, rewards greed and treats money, not only like it's an infinite resource, but that it's an entitlement to have more money than others.

Last night I went to Q Theatre to have drinks with a couple of friends. After I ordered another glass of merlot from the bartender, a server went to the bar to deliver it. She checked who it was for and, when told it was for me, asked the bartender for a straw.

I was so impressed that I thanked her. She almost brushed the praise off, saying, "Oh, I remember you from a couple of weeks ago. You were sitting over the other side."

The fact that she remembered me was one thing, hardly startling given I have certain distinguishing characteristics. But coupling her recognition with the recollection that I used a straw indicates to me a true dedication to great service.

Over on Labour's blog, leader-hopefuls David Cunliffe, Shane Jones and Grant Robertson fail to inspire me with their answers to one of the most fraught questions of our nation's history – and now, it seems, our future:

How are you going to blend the two main traditions we have in New Zealand, Maori and Pakeha, to provide the basic identity profile with which we can go forward into a multi-ethnic future?

I'll critique the question later. But first, the answers, as I said, don't leave me with much hope for the present or future of Labour's leadership.

Green Party MP Catherine Delahunty spoke in the Budget Debate on the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Amendment Bill (No 2) on Tuesday, 28 May 2013, saying:

"The New Zealand Public Health and Disability Amendment Bill (No 2) ... was forced through the House, as part of the Budget. I think the reason it was forced through under urgency, as part of the Budget, is that probably very few support parties could have stomached it if it had not been. It is a unique bill. The Budget has allocated $23 million per year for 3 years for perhaps 1,600 families, who can be paid less than all other carers, who can only be paid for 40 hours' work a week, and who basically, if they are not able to get that funding and want to complain about any aspect of the Government's new policy, will be unable to because there is a discriminatory clause in the bill.

"A most extraordinary discrimination has been entrenched in this bill, and it has been commented on far and wide. That is why I have called the bill the "Too Little, Too Late, Too Bad, Shut Up Bill", because that is really what it is about. The only reason there was any money put aside for this in the Budget is that the Government had lost in every court in the land. The Government did not do it to become internationally recognised as people who really like to defend people. The Government did it because it could, and it is wrong."